Why Trump’s latest White House press secretary lasted just five days

Katie Zacharia is the shortest-serving White House press secretary after a rocky tenure, but she’s not the first to go.

US President Donald Trump, joined by White House press secretary Katie Zacharia, prepares to speak to reporters as he departs the White House, in Washington, DC, US, October 13 [Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA]

United States President Donald Trump’s latest press secretary has been let go after just five days on the job, following a widely criticised first – and only – White House news conference and amid scrutiny of her credentials.

Trump told reporters on Friday that he believed the press had been harsh towards his new top spokesperson, Katie Zacharia, but that he had advised her to “reconsider” the role.

Shortly after, Al Jazeera and other media confirmed that Zacharia would be “ transitioning out ” of the position.

That made her the shortest-serving press secretary in US history – even shorter than the tenure of Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director who was fired after 10 days on the job during Trump’s first term in office in 2017.

His sacking gave rise to the term “one Scaramucci” – or “a Mooch” – which journalists and White House observers use jokingly as a measure of time to predict how long Trump officials would last in their jobs. Now, a new unit of time – “one Zacharia” – is only half as long.

Recalling his own White House stint this week, Scaramucci wrote on X: “Records are made to be broken. But I take no pleasure in other people’s pain.”

Here’s what we know about Zacharia’s brief tenure:

Why was Katie Zacharia removed as White House press secretary?

The White House has not given an official reason for Zacharia’s departure, but it came amid mounting concerns about her competency and professional background.

During her first and only news conference on Tuesday, Zacharia appeared uneasy at the podium and struggled at times to get through her sentences. She fumbled her words while looking down at her notes, once confused the words “husband” and “president” and ended the briefing after 14 minutes, taking only three questions from reporters.

Scrutiny intensified after it emerged that Zacharia, who has a law degree and described herself as “an attorney”, had studied law at university but never passed the bar exam required to practice law in the US. She later claimed she had worked as a lawyer in China.

Conservative Fox News host Sean Hannity asked Zacharia during an awkward interview on Thursday: “Why didn’t you just say: ‘I never practised law’?”

Following news of her departure, Zacharia wrote on X that it had been “an honour” to work for Trump, calling him a “kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and hardworking man”.

How was her one White House briefing received?

Zacharia, who took over from former press secretary Karoline Leavitt, was widely criticised as unpolished and unprepared during her appearance before the White House press corps on Tuesday this week, even by many of Trump’s allies.

During Hannity’s interview with Zacharia, he noted that she had been “widely panned” for her performance.

Conservative journalist and commentator Megyn Kelly said Zacharia needed “to present as a serious person”.

Jen Psaki, a former White House press secretary who worked under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, compared Zacharia’s troubled briefing to a comedy skit. “Maybe this whole White House press secretary thing isn’t really for Katie,” she said. “It’s not for everybody.”

As a fellow White House deportee, Scaramucci gave Zacharia some advice. “Speaking as the world’s leading expert on short White House tenures: turn off the news and go enjoy your family. In time you’ll realize that the Universe did you a major favor,” he wrote on X.

Who will take over White House press briefings now?

That remains to be seen.

The White House has not announced a permanent replacement, and Trump told Fox News he is “not in a hurry” to fill the role.

The vacancy leaves Trump without a top spokesperson as the US remains mired in a conflict with Iran and heads into crucial midterm elections next month.

How many press secretaries has Trump gone through?

Zacharia was the sixth person to serve as White House press secretary under Trump. He went through four of the officials during his first term and, so far, two in his second.

Zacharia’s predecessor, Karoline Leavitt, had held the position since the start of Trump’s second term in January 2025. She resigned in August to spend more time with her children.

Trump’s first-term press secretaries were Kayleigh McEnany, Stephanie Grisham, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Sean Spicer.

McEnany and Spicer now work in media. McEnany hosts several shows on Fox News, while Spicer contributing to NewsNation and has launched his own podcast.

Huckabee Sanders currently serves as the governor of her home state of Arkansas, where she is seeking re-election on November 3.

Grisham left the press secretary position after less than a year in 2020 and became First Lady Melania Trump’s chief of staff. She resigned that role after the January 6, 2021 insurrection and has since become a major critic of the US president.

Which other Trump-appointed officials have been fired?

Zacharia joins a roll call of Trump administration officials to be pushed out during his second term.

Kimberly Guilfoyle, the US ambassador to Greece who was previously engaged to Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr, was asked to step down from her role earlier this week after reports emerged that she offered a political donor access to senior administration officials in exchange for money.

US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle presents her credentials at the presidential palace, in Athens, Greece, November 4 [File: Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters]

Earlier in the year, Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi amid controversy over her handling of files relating to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which had become a growing political problem for the administration.

A month earlier, Trump ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem , after she was grilled in Congress over a $220m advertising campaign and her comments about two US citizens fatally shot by federal officers in Minnesota .

Mike Waltz was one of the first Trump administration officials to be removed during his second term. Waltz was fired as national security adviser in early May 2025 after he mistakenly invited a journalist into a messaging application in which he and other top administration officials discussed military attack plans on Yemen.

凯蒂·扎卡里亚是任期最短的白宫新闻秘书，她的任期也并不顺利，但她并不是第一个离职的白宫新闻秘书。

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在白宫新闻秘书凯蒂·扎卡里亚的陪同下，准备离开位于华盛顿特区的白宫时向记者发表讲话，时间是10月13日。[Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA]

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的最新新闻秘书上任仅五天就被解雇，此前她主持的首次（也是唯一一次）白宫新闻发布会受到广泛批评，而且她的资历也受到审查。

特朗普周五告诉记者，他认为媒体对他的新任首席发言人凯蒂·扎卡里亚过于苛刻，但他已建议她“重新考虑”担任这一职务。

随后不久，半岛电视台和其他媒体证实，扎卡里亚将“逐步卸任”该职位。

这使她成为美国历史上任期最短的新闻秘书——甚至比前白宫通讯主任安东尼·斯卡拉穆奇的任期还要短，斯卡拉穆奇在特朗普2017年第一个任期内上任10天后就被解雇了。

他的解雇催生了“一个斯卡拉穆奇”（或“一个穆奇”）的说法，记者和白宫观察员经常用这个说法来开玩笑，以此预测特朗普政府官员的任期。如今，一个新的时间单位——“一个扎卡里亚”——只有它的一半长。

本周，斯卡拉穆奇在X网站上回忆起自己在白宫的经历时写道：“纪录就是用来打破的。但我不会以他人的痛苦为乐。”

以下是我们对扎卡里亚短暂任期的了解：

凯蒂·扎卡里亚为何被免去白宫新闻秘书职务？

白宫尚未给出扎卡里亚离职的官方理由，但此前外界对她的能力和专业背景越来越感到担忧。

周二，扎卡里亚举行了她唯一一次新闻发布会。在发布会上，她显得局促不安，发言时也时常磕磕绊绊。她一边低头看笔记，一边磕磕巴巴，甚至一度把“丈夫”和“总统”这两个词混淆。发布会持续了14分钟，她只回答了记者的三个问题就结束了。

在得知扎卡里亚拥有法学学位并自称“律师”后，人们对她的审查力度加大。扎卡里亚虽然在大学学习过法律，但从未通过美国律师资格考试。她后来声称自己曾在中国担任律师。

保守派福克斯新闻主持人肖恩·汉尼提在周四的一次尴尬采访中问扎卡里亚：“你为什么不直接说：‘我从未从事过法律工作’？”

在得知自己离职的消息后，扎卡里亚在 X 上写道，为特朗普工作是她的“荣幸”，称他是一位“善良、出色、和蔼、体贴、热情、勤奋的人”。

她唯一一次白宫简报会反响如何？

接替前新闻秘书卡罗琳·莱维特的扎卡里亚本周二在白宫记者团面前亮相时，因表现不够成熟、准备不足而受到广泛批评，甚至连特朗普的许多盟友也对此表示不满。

在汉尼提采访扎卡里亚时，他指出扎卡里亚的表演受到了“广泛的批评”。

保守派记者兼评论员梅根·凯利表示，扎卡里亚需要“展现出严肃认真的一面”。

曾任奥巴马和拜登总统白宫新闻秘书的珍·普萨基将扎卡里亚那场混乱的新闻发布会比作一出喜剧小品。“也许凯蒂真的不适合当白宫新闻秘书，”她说，“这行不是人人都能干的。”

作为同样被白宫驱逐出境的人，斯卡拉穆奇给了扎卡里亚一些建议。“作为世界上最了解白宫短暂任期的人，我建议你关掉新闻，好好享受和家人在一起的时光。总有一天你会意识到，老天爷给了你一个天大的恩惠。”他在X网站上写道。

接下来谁将接管白宫新闻发布会？

这一点还有待观察。

白宫尚未宣布永久继任者，特朗普告诉福克斯新闻，他“不急于”填补这一职位空缺。

这一空缺使特朗普失去了一位首席发言人，而美国仍深陷与伊朗的冲突之中，并且下个月即将迎来至关重要的中期选举。

特朗普换过多少位新闻秘书？

扎卡里亚是特朗普任内第六位担任白宫新闻秘书的人。在他第一任期内，他更换了四位新闻秘书，而第二任期至今也更换了两位。

扎卡里亚的前任卡罗琳·莱维特自特朗普第二个任期开始（2025 年 1 月）以来一直担任该职位。她于 8 月辞职，以便有更多时间陪伴孩子。

特朗普第一任期的新闻秘书分别是凯莉·麦克纳尼、斯蒂芬妮·格里沙姆、莎拉·赫卡比·桑德斯和肖恩·斯派塞。

麦克纳尼和斯派塞现在都在媒体行业工作。麦克纳尼在福克斯新闻主持几档节目，而斯派塞则为NewsNation撰稿，并推出了自己的播客节目。

哈克比·桑德斯目前担任其家乡阿肯色州州长，她将于 11 月 3 日竞选连任。

格里沙姆在2020年担任白宫新闻秘书不到一年后离职，成为第一夫人梅拉尼娅·特朗普的幕僚长。她在2021年1月6日骚乱后辞去了该职务，此后成为美国总统的主要批评者。

还有哪些特朗普任命的官员被解雇了？

扎卡里亚是特朗普第二任期内被解职的一系列政府官员之一。

曾与特朗普之子小唐纳德·特朗普订婚的美国驻希腊大使金伯利·吉尔福伊尔，在本周早些时候被要求辞职，此前有报道称，她向一位政治捐助者提供接触高级政府官员的机会以换取金钱。

11月4日，美国驻希腊大使金伯利·吉尔福伊尔在希腊雅典总统府递交国书。[图片：路易莎·古利亚马基/路透社]

今年早些时候，特朗普解雇了司法部长帕姆·邦迪，原因是她处理与已定罪的性犯罪者杰弗里·爱泼斯坦有关的文件引发了争议，这已成为本届政府日益严重的政治问题。

一个月前，特朗普解雇了国土安全部长克里斯蒂·诺姆，此前她在国会因一项耗资 2.2 亿美元的广告宣传活动以及她对两名美国公民在明尼苏达州被联邦官员枪杀一事的评论而受到质询。

迈克·沃尔兹是特朗普第二任期内首批被解职的政府官员之一。2025年5月初，沃尔兹因误将一名记者邀请进一个即时通讯软件而被解除国家安全顾问职务。当时，他和一些政府高官正在该软件上讨论针对也门的军事行动计划。